Van drags biker to death

OUR CORRESPONDENT

The spot at Mango bridge where the student met with the fatal mishap on Friday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Aug. 16: A 16-year-old biker riding to his college to attend Independence Day celebrations yesterday morning was killed after a speeding van belonging to an educational institution hit him and dragged him for several metres on Mango bridge.

Ravi Shanker Dubey, a resident of Babudih at Lal Bhatta, Bhuiyandih, in the Sitaramdera police station area, was not wearing helmet.

The youngest son of priest Satish Kumar Dubey, Ravi was a first-year intermediate (commerce) student of Mango-based Jamshedpur Workers College. He was on Mango bridge, barely 500 metres from his college, when a van of RVS College of Engineering and Technology, a private cradle located in Bhilaipahari near NH-33, hit him from behind around 8.30am.

As the teenager lost his balance and fell on the road along with the bike, the vehicle dragged him for nearly 10 meters. As passers-by raised an alarm, the driver fled, leaving behind a profusely bleeding Ravi on the road.

Some local residents and his college mates, who had rushed to the spot by then, took him in an auto to MGM Medical College and Hospital, Sakchi. But doctors declared him brought dead at 9am.

Angry, the students and Ravi’s relatives prevented police from taking away the body for autopsy, demanding immediate arrest of the van driver. They relented only after secretary of RVS College of Engineering and Technology Bharat Singh, a local Congress leader, visited the hospital and paid compensation besides promising a job for the deceased’s elder brother.

“Bharat Singh deposited Rs 1.5 lakh in the account of Ravi’s father. He also said that he would give a job to Ravi’s elder brother at his educational institution,” said Pawan Singh, a student leader of Jamshedpur Workers College.

Deputy superintendent of police, composite control room, Jacinta Kerketta said they identified the van as belonging to RVS College from footage captured by CCTV cameras installed on Mango bridge. “We have asked local police to initiate action against the driver,” Kerketta said.

However, Sitaramdera officer-in-charge Sunil Kumar Choudhary said they were yet to make any arrest.

Ravi’s death cast a gloom on his college, which cancelled Independence Day celebrations. Only the national flag was hoisted.